Japanese role-playing game "Conception II" serves up dungeon crawling and kooky family bonding

These include girls dressed as space ships as well musclebound dudes in thongs flying around and shooting stuff. Yes, there's a game — nay, several games — where you play as well-oiled musclebound dudes in thongs.

Yet none of those prepared me for the weirdness served up by "Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars" for the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS.

A dungeon crawler made by the same company that hatched out the excellent "Persona 4," Conception II looks like your run of the mill Japanese role-playing game that's set in high school. That means a familiar cast that includes the main character imbued with mysterious powers, the spunky male buddy, the talented yet snobby rival and a cast of female characters with varying personalities.

A Japanese-style role-playing game, Conception II is a dungeon crawler that features a unique "Classmating" system for creating fighters.(Photo: Provided by Atlus)

The part where Conception II veers off the beaten path, however, is the way it fills out your party. Instead of solely relying on a preset cast of fighters, you basically have to make "Star Children" who fulfill various combat roles. In short your combat team consists of the main character, one of several baby mamas and a platoon of your little kids.

All of a sudden, a game with oily, musclebound dudes shooting up stuff doesn't seem as strange as it used to be.

Conception II's story starts with the arrival of protagonist Wake Archus at a school for gifted teens not named X-Men. Wake is especially prized among the current generation of students thanks to his high ether levels. This allows him to physically enter labyrinths known as Dusk Circles, which have been spawning monsters that attack the human world.

Wake's high ether levels also make him the ideal partner for "Classmating" with elite female students, with the emphasis on the "mating" part. Basically, Wake ends up holding hands with a classmate at a cathedral — seriously, you can't make this stuff up — and send their energy to a Matryoshka doll container that pops up a cute little fighter. And that, my friends, answers the universal question, "Where do babies come from?" If only "the talk" was that easy.

"Star Children" play a key role in battle when playing "Conception II."(Photo: Provided by Atlus)

The parameters of the kids you conceive — including much sought "genius" children — as well as your choice of class type improve the better your relationships are and the stronger your partner is. This encourages players to max out their affinities with their female mates and raise their levels. You do this by talking to your partners and picking the right conversation choices, doing "Bonding Events," as well as taking them with you to dungeons. Not exactly the most romantic spot to bring girls but the rationality boat left a long time ago in this review, buddy. It's basically Persona 4 crossed with a dating sim.

You're also allowed to improve your relationships with everybody so two-timing actually makes you an underachiever in this game. You're going to want to set your sights higher than that, my friend. Basically, it's like every college frat boy's dream come true. Another option for stronger Star Children is to "Blindmate" with other players' characters via an online connection, kind of like eHarmony but without the guy constantly selling those 29 points of compatibility.

The Warlock class in "Conception II."(Photo: Provided by Atlus)

You can have up to 70 Star Children in your active and inactive roster at a time, though you can free up more space by releasing children and making them "independent." This also raises your city's level, leading to new facilities and items at stores. In that sense it's a bit like Pokemon, too, though you can still run into your independent children within the city.

Battles themselves use a system with a risk-reward component. Hitting enemy weak points from the back do damage but attacking from dangerous spots allow you to do a "Chain Drive" that literally chains a foe and significantly slow down its movement for free hits. You can even chain enemy groups though it only takes one enemy to move its turn in order to break the chain for all foes. A chain drive also gives you bonus experience and currency known as "Glow Points." Build up your ether density gauge during combat and your team sees a speed boost.

Group dynamics also play a role in combat. Like Pokemon, for example, your fighter groups' elemental types, determine their effectiveness or lack thereof against foes of varying elements. Mixing and matching certain Star Children by class or skill also unlocks special team abilities that help with attacking, recovery or buffs. You can also do "Mecunite" attacks where your kids form a battle robot. Raise your bond with your Star Children and you can trigger "Intercept" moves at a higher rate during battle, which include extra attacks or defensive maneuvers. Depending on which heroine you take with you, you can use different combo skills known as "Seventh Bursts."

Improving your bond with classmates is key in "Conception II" if you want to create a strong team.(Photo: Provided by Atlus)

In terms of presentation, Conception II does a great job with the character cut-ins, which feature both subtle and not-so-subtle animation of certain, uh, body parts. Voice acting is also widely used and the quality of the English dub is pretty solid as far as localizations go. The dungeon designs, however, can be underwhelming and repetitive. They pretty much have a mass-produced feel and lack the character of dungeons seen in games like Final Fantasy or the Tales series. The story also is nowhere as good as Persona 4's. It certainly has the feel of its most popular cousin in some areas but it ends being more of a Persona 4 Extra Light thanks to its lack of real depth and tendency to use anime and manga stereotypes as a crutch. These include off-color jokes about bust size and lazy exposition that make your first brush with the characters' back stories about their destroyed towns feel like a sob story instead of a real traumatic event.

Overall, Conception II is an unusual game with potential that falls short of its promise. It certainly won't be for folks looking for a genre-defining JRPG experience. For otakus and fans of cute Japanese "moe" characters as well as gamers looking for a dungeon-crawling fix, however, Conception II just might hit the spot.